What to do when you meet a Big Feeling

Everybody meets Big Feelings. Learning what to do when we encounter them is arguably one of the most important skills we can learn.

I wrote 'What to do when you meet a Big Feeling' for my seven and ten year old niece and nephew to help them learn how to process difficult emotions. Having taken the book into her elementary school, my niece's 2nd grade teacher requested a copy, as she found it helpful for her students. I'm uploading the PDF, as I received a number of requests from the other teachers at Oxford Elementary who wanted a copy for themselves.

This download consists of a 36 page pdf (arranged in double page spreads).

The story introduces children to Big Feelings and provides a simple exercise that can be done with children (and adults) to help feelings move through our bodies. It explains some of the ways that feelings can be processed - through tears, anger, laughter etc and introduces the idea of meeting our feelings head-on, in a non-judgemental way. The monster illustrations are designed to help start conversations about what Big Feelings might 'look' like - big, small, brightly coloured, with teeth etc and where they appear in our bodies.

I wrote and designed the book myself, using wonderful clipart from LillySillyBilly and KennaSataDesigns on Etsy. The technique of noticing feelings and breathing into them I learned from Sheryl Paul and her extensive work on processing emotions, which I could not recommend more highly.

I hope this book proves to be useful to other teachers.